Metro News & Reviews

Metro issues response to FTA letter on civil rights compliance

Below is Metro’s statement concerning a letter received today from Peter Rogoff, the head of the Federal Transit Administration:

Today, Metro received a letter from FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff concerning the ongoing civil rights compliance issues. The letter recognizes that Metro has successfully resolved two of the five deficiencies identified in the 2011 compliance review, and that a great deal of work has been done towards reaching the goal of full compliance. The letter and attachment also acknowledges the errors in the final compliance review report and introduces a new requirement for Metro to conduct an equity analysis of the cumulative impact of all service changes since 2009. Metro must receive approval from the FTA for the methodology prior to undertaking this new requirement.The letter does not make any new findings and does not document any Civil Rights violation. The FTA raises the potential for federal funds to be withheld if the necessary tasks to reach full compliance are not completed in a timely manner.

Metro staff will be meeting with the FTA on May 7th to review the methodology for the cumulative impacts analysis and other outstanding issues. Metro will comply will all FTA directives and expeditiously complete the analysis being requested.